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'We do see it occasionally but what
is usually seen is just a splash from where a shark had been.

'To have
all the passengers onboard looking where the shark first breached, and to
then watch it less than 100 yards away launch itself out of the water
again was amazing.'

Basking
sharks can grow up to several metres long and is one of the only sharks
to visit the shores of Britain. It eats by swimming with its mouth wide
open and sucks in as much of its tiny prey as it can get.

Harmless: The basking shark is toothless and feeds on microscopic plankton by swimming with its mouth wide open. It is one of the only sharks to visit the shores of the UK

Al Reeve, conservation officer for the Shark Trust, said: 'Looking at the fin placement, body shape and coloration we would agree that this is a basking shark.

'The fact that someone was able to capture this behaviour on camera is simply amazing.

'It is quite startling to see a several-ton animal that normally travels at just 2mph suddenly bursting out of the water at high speed.

'It shows that while normally docile, they are certainly capable of building up to more physically explosive activity.

He added that little is known about why sharks breach.

'Previously it has been suggested they might be trying to dislodge a parasite from their gills but other theories suggest it might relate to courtship behaviour,' he said.